I really need to get Cesar Milan in here or something, as our little buddy the Gunnar-man has been taking to marking around the house, a recent development that has gotten worse, rather than better since we've been trying to address it. He's an intact male, and the balls are often thought to be a factor in this, but there's no explanation for why he waited until he was seven years-old to start in. Either way it has to end soon, or MrsBlue is going to make me turn him into sausage.

Verno wrote on May 30, 2012, 10:58:Just getting some shit off my chest. Our little yorkie Lucy passed away yesterday. She had a little doggie version of a stroke and her equilibrium was off as a result. She could barely get around and obviously wasn't happy so we put her down. She had been blind for a few years which was really rough at first but eventually we discovered that her other senses more than made up for it. All the same I had a long 16 years with her and my GF and her daughter have only been around for 3 but seem to be taking it harder than I am.

I don't really know the protocol for these things, this has been my only pet and has been with me since I was 16. Part of me really wants to wait and just mourn for awhile but another part wants another little companion again as soon as possible. My GFs daughter is totally heartbroken and keeps asking when Lucy will come back from heaven, three year olds are adorable.

I've been through quite a few pets over my lifetime. I've decided the best thing to do is get a new one the very next day. One day to mourn and remember what a great dog he was is enough. Any more than that and you are yielding to the notion that to get a new dog too soon is somehow disrespecting the memory of the old one. But it's not like they're in doggy heaven frowning down on you for "forgetting" them. You're not forgetting about them. For a while you'll think about them fondly every single day. You'll compare the new dog's behavior with the old one, noting how they behave differently, how they're not as good in some ways as the old one, seeing how they're better in some ways too.

By the way, I love the story about how your old dog was blind but he adapted and flourished under your patient care anyway. I'm a sucker for that kind of thing: dogs with no back legs wheeling around in custom wheelchairs, that sort of thing. Bravo to you sir.